Unilateral pulmonary vein atresia: Difficulties of radiological diagnosis

Abstract

Pulmonary vein atresia is a rare congenital abnormality that could manifest in isolation or in association with other congenital abnormalities in the cardiovascular system such as pulmonary vein hypoplasia. Pulmonary vein atresia leads to changes in cardiovascular functioning. This abnormality is often diagnosed in children with recurrent pneumonia and hemoptysis. In adulthood, pulmonary vein atresia is much less common, with clinical symptoms such as dyspnea during physical exercises and hemoptysis. However, some patients are asymptomatic. Owing to the nonspecific imaging findings, lung parenchymal changes are often misdiagnosed as another lung disease, including inflammatory genesis disease. In this article, a case of a young man with asymptomatic unilateral pulmonary vein atresia combined with pulmonary artery hypoplasia and interstitial lung changes in a lung with hypoplasia was presented. These pathologies were first identified in a 21-year-old patient by contrast-enhanced computed tomography.

Keywords

• pulmonary vein
• atresia
• pulmonary artery
• hypoplasia
• inferior vena cava
• case report
• computed tomography